Why wasn't there a 911 plan for the oil spill in the gulf?

i am also wondering why... imagine, after the erica, we have not yet put in place a system of coping with oil spills... erica, a tanker, split in two near the coast of normandy in france and caused damage up to iceland, and whose destruction are still felt today, yet no one has ever thought of putting into place a way of containing oil spills... even coping with one or minimizing the environmental catastrophe wrought by an oil spill...

These people didn't have their saftey checks up to date or the emergency equipment to stop the well in good repair. It has never been a problem before because this has never happened in this area and humans being what they are we tend to become lax and allow things to slide when we feel there is no real need to do them. All of us have 20/20 hindsight. The facts are drilling oil wells is dangerous, when drilling in water it becomes even more so and the the results are even more terrifying.

Because until something happens they don't think. Just like the 9/11 thing. None, or very little security until after the fact. And it has to do with money. Why put something in place that costs big bucks until they have to? They didn't think anything would happen. And I don't they look much toward the future. Unless it is a way to make more money. Do you sort of see a theme here? MONEY!

Jen- What I found sad was that each one of these oil companies had the exact same copy of response and containment rules. It looked like a carbon copy, from what I saw, with just the name of the company changed. If it didn't work for Exxon when they spilled, why did each company keep the exact same policies and procedures? I am so annoyed by this entire thing, and I really do seethe when I see the BP commercials saying they are doing their best to clean up the beaches for our families. Not that I think humans shouldn't have their beaches to go play on, but what about the entire ocean's eco system? So far I've heard very little from their mouths on that topic. I've seen a few of the hearings they were doing, but they made me so sick to my stomach I had to stop watching. We have wonderful alternatives to oil, but as usual even those are costing the layman thousands of dollars that most do not have. Until we turn our attentions away from capitalism, I suspect we'll continue to see such disasters. Have you heard of the Venus Project? Check them out online. They are promoting a resource based economy and it has some very interesting ideas. Namaste-Anora

From what I gathered there were precautions taken, but those companies responsible for it all were not responsible and even as been held accountable, still were passing the ball around. I heard on the news, they were going to have the south arabians come help us take care of this trouble. I don't get it either, why isn't this taken care of already. I guess we don't mind wasting money, tons of money, on other countries but again, when it comes to taking care of our own, its last priority.

I am afraid there's kinda politics issue here, but please for the sake of the motherland, our environment in particular, authorities should act immediately otherwise majority will be in danger.

I think they do, but the magnitude of this is the problem. Say you buy a little fire extinguisher for your kitchen, thinking small greese fire. But the electrical behind your stove catches the wall behind the stove on fire. When you smell fire from another room or outside, the entire wall is engulfed in flames. Your little fire extinguisher isn't a help, if you tried to use it, you'd be killed. So I think they have an inadequate response to something this size. Not unlike the fire extinguisher scenario. Are any of the hairdressers in your area contributing hair to be made into mats to help soak up the oil? One of our hairdressers is. It was in our newspapers. Hair is very obsorbant. The problems is, those mats should have been made ahead of time and stock-piled somewhere in adequate amounts. But I don't think they ever planned on this amount of oil. So find a local hairdresser that's sending all their clippings to be made into mats for oil obsorption. Help be part of the solution. If you're where they are making the mats, volunteer to help make them. Get the word out to everyone. Take care.

I say the same thing, I guess, as every one else. You would think the governments would have made sure there were plans put in place before they even let them start drilling. But I guess it is all a political thing and money thing. It is sad though that it is taking them so long to correct the problem. Why not just cement up the hole, is what I say. But I guess it isn't that simple. Whatever the answer is I hope it happens quickly because right now it is taking too long to correct it.

I quite agree w/u , Jen. They aren't very prepared for an emergency doesn't look like. U would think a big company of any kind would be prepared for something bad to happen. They are so bigheaded they think it couldn't happen to them.

They took shortcuts to save money and this is the result. Everything's about money. They knew that this was dangerous and high risk, but they did it anyway.

It’s a huge mess isn’t it? I heard that all the precautions taken did not work and the spill was just too big but regardless now they have this major disaster to deal with. I saw in the news that human hair is being collected to soak up the spill. It sounds disgusting but it is one of the planned solutions http://news.yahoo.com/video#video=19649114

there is always a plan but not for that, the pipe broke off to far down. the problem is that the oil is free flowing out the ground.

Hi JenInTN! I think there should have been an emergency plan, too. I don't know why they didn't have one. My nephew who lives down in Orange Beach, Alabama is helping clean it up. He's a paramedic and also has a fire department down there. His younger brother sent me a link where he's on youtube talking about it. If I had the link (I think I deleted it), I would send it to you. Maybe I can find it on youtube some way.

I thought, but I could be wrong, an emergency plan was in place, but when they executed it, it failed. Now, again from my understanding, they're trying other techniques, but all have failed. It is a mess, I agree with that!